The use of infant car seats for transporting children in motor vehicles has become widespread, due in part to the recognition that such devices enhance the safety accorded infant motor vehicle passengers and also since a majority of states now require their usage until the infant reaches a certain age and/or weight. Consequently, the infant car seat market has become quite lucrative and manufacturers have expended significant development efforts in order to offer a competitive product. Much of these development efforts have concentrated on both improving the safety features of the infant car seat and providing a seat which is still convenient to use in relation to placing infants in and removing them from the seat. The particular assembly of the infant car seat which may potentially provide both of these desirable features is the restraint mechanism, and therefore many design variations are currently available.
Some of the initial restraint mechanisms employed in infant car seats utilized a simple shoulder harness assembly. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,613 to Martel et al., issued Oct. 8, 1985, discloses a shoulder harness having two laterally displaced straps which extend through the back of the infant car seat and taper to a point where the shoulder harness is detachably connected to the seat portion in a position between the infant's legs. A buckle assembly permits manual adjustment of the shoulder harness to accommodate infants of different sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,460 to Meeker et al., issued Dec. 30, 1986, discloses a variation of a simple shoulder harness restraint mechanism by incorporating a padded shield. Two laterally displaced shoulder straps extend through the back of the infant car seat and attach to the shield. The shield has a portion which substantially covers the chest region of the infant, a central portion which passes between the legs of the infant, and a tongue attached to the end of this central portion for detachable engagement with the seat. The drawings indicate that the shoulder harness straps extend through the back portion of the infant seat where they are apparently joined into a single strap. This single strap then apparently loops around the exterior shell of the infant seat, passes through a locking mechanism, and exits the front, lower portion of the infant seat. Therefore, adjustment of the shoulder harness appears to involve pulling this single strap away from the seat to tighten the shoulder harness or manually releasing the locking mechanism so that the shoulder harness may be pulled away from the seat back to loosen the shoulder harness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,852 to Anthony et al., issued July 14, 1987, discloses an infant car seat and shoulder harness assembly similar to that of Meeker et al., but provides more detail on the actual adjusting/locking mechanism. As in Meeker et al., Anthony et al. includes two shoulder straps which are attached to a T-shaped, padded shield which is in turn detachably connectable to the seat bottom. The two shoulder straps pass through the back of the seat and join into a single strap which passes through an adjusting/locking mechanism located in the lower, front portion of the seat. More particularly, the strap passes between a spring biased, pivotable cam having a knurled surface and an engaging surface. A handle is provided with the cam to allow the shoulder harness to be manually adjusted by manually pivoting the cam away from the strap so that the harness may be pulled in the appropriate direction to either tighten or loosen the harness on the infant. When the handle is released, the spring biases the cam to engage with and lock the single strap and thus the shoulder harness.
Although infant car seats which employ only a shoulder harness assembly remain popular, particularly in those infant seats specifically designed for use by babies, infant car seats which utilize some type of frontal barrier are also now available and may possibly offer more protection when the infant reaches the toddler stage. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,084 to Benjetsky, issued Sept. 9, 1958, illustrates an early version of a restraining mechanism for an infant car seat which incorporates a barrier and harness mechanism. Benjetsky discloses an infant car seat having a back and seat portion, an essentially tubular frontal barrier, and an adjustable belt which extends across the chest region of the infant. The frontal barrier includes a substantially U-shaped member, the ends of which are pivotally attached to the back, and a pivot bar which is either fixedly or pivotally attached to the central portion of the U-shaped member on one end thereof and pivotally attached to the seat portion on the opposite end. The belt, which includes a buckle for adjusting its tension, is attached to the two ends of the U-shaped member. In order to place an infant in the seat, the pivot bar is allegedly placed in a substantially horizontal position and then pivoted to its locked vertical position for proper positioning of the frontal barrier. Although disclosing an infant car seat with a pivotal frontal barrier and harness mechanism, the pivotal motion does not properly position the belt on the infant, nor does it automatically control its adjustment. To the contrary, the belt buckle must be unlatched, reconnected, and manually adjusted to properly secure the infant within the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,683 to Knoedler, et al., issued May 5, 1987, illustrates a more modern variation of an infant car seat having a movable barrier and harness mechanism. Knoedler, et al. discloses a split-barrier configuration in which one barrier is pivotally attached to each side of the seat, each barrier having one of the shoulder straps attached thereto. A crotch strap attached to the seat portion extends up between the infant's legs for detachable engagement with the two barriers when pivoted into a position forming a lateral barrier across the infant seat. Pivoting of the barriers into this lateral position allegedly results in proper positioning of the shoulder harness on the infant. However, there is no disclosure relating to the manner in which the tension of the shoulder harness is adjusted. More particularly, there is no suggestion that pivotation of the barriers may be employed to automatically adjust the tension of the harness on the infant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,842 to Segal, issued Apr. 8, 1986, discloses an alternate restraint mechanism which incorporates a single movable barrier and harness assembly. The barrier of Segal is pivotally attached to one side of the seat and extends laterally across the seat when in its downward position. A harness assembly consisting of two shoulder straps, two lap straps, and a crotch strap are interconnected and fixedly attached to the infant car seat. The harness assembly must be manually adjusted and it is not automatically placed in the proper position on the infant by movement of the barrier. In fact, the only inter-connection between the harness assembly and the barrier is that after proper adjustment of the harness assembly, the crotch strap is passed through the barrier for connection with the shoulder and lap straps which not only secures the infant within the seat, but serves to keep the barrier in its downward position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,468 to Shubin, issued Sept. 13, 1988, discloses an infant seat which utilizes a pivotally mounted frontal barrier and integrated harness assembly. A frontal barrier having a portion extending laterally across the seat is pivotally attached to the seat via extensions so that it may be pivoted above the infant's head. Fixedly attached to the lateral portion of the frontal barrier is a crotch member which is detachably connected with the seat bottom. The harness assembly consists of a lap strap and two shoulder straps. The lap strap is fixedly attached to the sides of the frontal barrier. One end of each shoulder strap may be manually positioned on this lap strap in a plurality of locations while the second end of each shoulder strap is attached to a mechanism on the back of the infant seat whose vertical positioning may be manually adjusted to accommodate infants of different sizes. Although disclosing an infant seat in which a frontal barrier cooperates with a harness assembly to position the harness assembly on the infant by pivoting the frontal barrier into its downward position, pivoting of the frontal barrier does not automatically adjust the harness to the infant. To the contrary, the disclosure indicates that the shoulder straps must be manually repositioned on the lap strap while another portion of the disclosure is directed to the actual mechanism which allows the vertical positioning of the shoulder straps to be manually adjusted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,506 to Wise et al., issued Apr. 7, 1987, discloses an infant car seat having a T-shaped frontal barrier and an integrated shoulder harness assembly. The frontal barrier includes a restraining member which laterally extends between the sides of the seat, the ends of which are pivotally attached to the infant seat via extensions, and a crotch member fixedly attached to the central portion of the restraining member which extends downwardly between the infant's legs for detachable engagement with the seat. Two shoulder straps fixedly attached to the exterior of the infant seat extend through the back of the infant seat for engagement with the restraining member. More particularly, the lower ends of the shoulder straps are threaded over a knurled shaft in the restraining member and extend downwardly therefrom. A mechanism for manually locking the crotch member to the seat cooperates with the knurled shaft to lock the harness in position. Adjustment of the harness assembly is apparently accomplished by pulling on the appropriate ends of the harness to either tighten or loosen the harness prior to engaging the locking mechanism on the crotch member.
Wise et al. also indicates that an automatic harness adjustment system is offered. In order to use this automatic adjustment, the barrier is pivoted into its upward position and the ends of the shoulder straps extending downwardly from the restraining member are pulled taunt. By doing so, the shoulder straps will allegedly extend to adjust to fit the infant's body as the barrier is pivoted into its downward position for engagement with the seat. Although allegedly offering this automatic harness adjustment feature, the disclosure does not indicate if proper tension on the straps is maintained when being positioned on the infant to ensure proper conformance to the contour of the infant. Moreover, there is no suggestion of incorporating a mechanism to remove slack in the harness after engaging the locking mechanism on the crotch member, most likely due to the fact that once the crotch member is locked to the seat, no movement of the shoulder harness in any direction is allowed.
Many of the above-discussed references have primarily addressed providing a restraint system which is automatically positioned on the infant by movement of a frontal barrier. However, there are also references which address restraint systems for infant car seats which are automatically adjusted. Representative of this type of restraint system is U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,227 to Takahashi et al., issued Nov. 14, 1989. Takahashi et al. discloses a restraint system which incorporates a retractor-operated shoulder harness and a T-shaped shield which is freely and pivotally attached to the front portion of the seat bottom. The shoulder harness consists of two straps which extend through the back of the infant seat where they are fixedly attached to the seat bottom on the sides thereof. The opposite ends of the straps join into a single strap on the back side of the infant seat which is then attached to a retractor (not illustrated), the function of which is to in part maintain tension on the shoulder harness. In order to secure an infant within the seat, the shoulder straps are individually extended out from the seat back and the infant's arms are inserted so that the straps pass over the infant's shoulders. The shield is pivoted into an upright position to contact the infant and the straps are then placed into essentially slots on the face of the shield. The retractor automatically adjusts the straps to the infant by removing any existing slack, but does not actually lock the shoulder harness until a certain deceleration is experienced.
Another variation of an automatically adjusted restraint mechanism is disclosed in UK Patent Application No. 2,175,194A to Merten, published Nov. 26, 1986. The primary disclosure of Merten addresses the seat belt adjusting/locking device, although the disclosure does indicate that the apparatus is particularly useful in combination with an infant car seat. In this regard, there is a strap which passes over the infant's shoulders and attaches to a padded chest protector which in turn is attachable to the seat bottom. The other end of the strap is attached to and wound upon a spool which is biased to retract the strap. A ratchet attached to the spool and a pawl for engaging the ratchet to restrict further withdrawal of the shoulder harness are also provided. These components are allegedly common in many seat belt retractors where withdrawal of the seat belt is allowed to continue until the extension motion is discontinued, at which time the pawl engages the ratchet to restrict further withdrawal of the strap. Merten allegedly improves upon this known retractor by incorporating a mechanism for ensuring that the pawl does not engage the ratchet to restrict withdrawal of the shoulder harness until the tongue and buckle are engaged.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,148 to Anthony et al., issued Jan. 19, 1988, discloses an automatically adjusted harness mechanism for use with an infant car seat which is principally similar to Merten in that the adjusting/locking device includes a spool, ratchet, and a member for engaging the ratchet to lock the shoulder harness only after the tongue is engaged with the buckle.
Although the above-discussed references disclose various mechanisms to enhance the safety of an infant within an infant car seat and the ease with which the restraining mechanism may be positioned and secured, there still exists a need for an infant car seat which utilizes a pivoting barrier assembly and a harness assembly integrally associated therewith which will not only automatically position the harness on the infant, but which will also automatically adjust the harness assembly to the infant by use of an adjusting assembly to firmly secure the infant within the seat.